Star: Mark Wahlberg is super-cheap, he complains when his wife spends $500

When he’s not too busy disrespecting the victims of 9/11 and/or singlehandedly saving the world from all of the terrorists ever, Mark Wahlberg is just a quiet family man. For real! At least the “family man” part. Mark has been with Rhea Durham for 11 years now, and they have four children together. I was just wondering the other day if Rhea was about to get knocked up again – she’s due for another pregnancy, isn’t she? Like Matt Damon’s wife Lucy. I can’t believe she’s not knocked up again too. Where was I going? Ah, yes. Rhea has given birth to four of Mark’s children and Rhea finally got Mark down the aisle back in 2009. They seem to have one of the most solid marriages in Hollywood (as if that’s saying much, but still). You never hear much about them, scandalous or otherwise. Until now! Star claims that Rhea and Mark do fight about one thing: money. Mark is such a cheapskate that he picks a fight with Rhea when she spends a few hundred dollars. Ugh.

Mark Wahlberg and Rhea Durham seem like the perfect couple – but behind-the-scenes, they’re just like any other married couple, fighting over money!

“Mark doesn’t like it when Rhea gets spendy,” an insider tells Star. Rhea, 34, who has been with Mark, 41, for 11 years and has four children with him, isn’t even a big spender.

“She’ll drop, like, $500 and it’ll be a big fight.”

With his net worth at $150 million, that way off the Mark!

[From Star Magazine, print edition]

$500 isn’t nothing, although I’m speaking from my cheapskate tunnel vision. If I had $150 million, I would let some $500 shopping sprees slide, you know? I get that it’s HIS money, etc. But they’ve been together 11 years, they have four kids, and Rhea helped build Mark’s empire in her own way. It’s time to give Rhea her own Platinum AmEx. Unless Mark has that money earmarked for “single-handedly fighting the terrorists.”

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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54 Responses to “Star: Mark Wahlberg is super-cheap, he complains when his wife spends $500”

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  1. Mara says:

    Such a nice couple !

  2. Joanna says:

    she looks sooo much prettier as a brunette. why does everyone want to go blond? i did for my bf, but when i went back to darker, everyone said i looked younger. and it killed my hair too.

    • Insertrandomname says:

      i think she looks heaps better as a blonde actually… her brown hair in that one pic is the same color all over.. looks cheap

    • Mitch Buchanan Rocks! says:

      I agree, the brunette brings out her coloring whereas the blonde washes her out – Kate Winslet is like that too- so much prettier as a red head than as a blonde.

  3. NerdMomma says:

    I had no idea Marky Mark had such a hot wife. I’m sure where they live, $500 doesn’t go very far so hopefully this story is exaggerated.

  4. D1 says:

    To be fair to Mark, it’s not like he spends a lot of money either.

    In fact, he’s so frugal, he won’t spend a dime on fancy cars, expensive suits, or providing you with financial compensation if he takes out one of your eyes with a metal hook.

    • Kate says:

      AMEN! Not much press on his BLINDING A PERSON. I look at the way they dress and look so poorly put together and needs a bath…I totally believe he’s a tightwad.

      • Kevin says:

        I don’t know about him not spending the Benjamins. I saw him on some custom car show where he had them build him a custom mobile office in an Escalade. Looked pretty pricey to me.

  5. Hanna says:

    Come on now… We all know that pretty brunette married this hideous short guy for a reason..

  6. Nadinek says:

    His wife is hot and he’s not…i don’t find him attractive at all…his face is meh..he’s a little short plus the douchey persona.

  7. marie says:

    In all fairness, if he’s really that cheap-then he’s probably been that cheap their entire relationship. It’s probably nothing new for Rhea, I’m sure she’s figured out ways around it by now.

  8. me says:

    he for some reason makes my skin crawl

    • OH SURE, LET'S TALK says:

      He is a complete prick. He said Janet Jackson looked like one of the girl apes in his movie Planet Of the Apes. He mocked Kate Mosses slim 90s frame on a talk show few years back. He is also ridiculously overrated as an actor. Find him to be quite wooden. Yeah. Can’t stand the guy.

    • AnneOriginal says:

      Considering he has committed hate crimes in the past, it is probably your instinct kicking in.

  9. Schnauzers!!! says:

    Ok, I will be honest….I can’t fathom that much money. I can not.

    HOWEVER, growing up poor makes you SUPER TIGHT. I grew up very poor. And even now, when it comes to making a purchase, I freak out, because I am terrified we will lose everything we have worked for. I like having more money at the end of my month and a bit of a buffer to fall back on in case of emergency.

    I can’t imagine feeling that way about MILLIONS, although I’m sure Marky Mark has seen his fair share of friends lose EVERYTHING due to stupidity. Can’t really blame him…but he should lighten up just a touch on his wife.

    • lisa2 says:

      I just saw some interview where he talked about that he lived in an apartment or house with 5 or 6 other guys. Then he finally bought a house.

      I meh about him; on screen and off.

    • me says:

      ok, but heres where i get confused. his mother must have had new kids money from donnie right?

  10. hoya_chick says:

    Gross. Men like this piss me off. She gave up a modeling career and birthed FOUR of your children. $500 can’t even buy a decent celebrity wife purse lol. Shows lack of respect on his part for yelling at her for spending a measly $500 when she has been holding him down for over a decade and given him 4 kids. This is why I make my own money because I would honestly bitchslap any man getting in my face about spending that kind of money especially compared to our net worth.

    • Genevieve says:

      TOTALLY agreed. Jesus, you can’t even cover your monthly chit for Botox with that paltry amount of money!!

      I’ve disliked Mark Wahlberg for years, simply because he didn’t have the decency to marry his baby mama after 4 kids. TACKY. Wonder what made him finally pop the question to Rhea?

    • Gayle says:

      Men who are cheap are some of the worst. My bff has a magnet for this type, no idea why. What a disaster. It’s a symptom of other issues, usually.

      He probably didn’t marry her for so long b/c he was worried about assets. Gross.

      I agree he is a mediocre actor at best. He cannot do any other accent than his regional one, it seems.

  11. Roma says:

    He used to spend money on cocaine, so I’m guessing maybe he overspent a little when he first became famous and then pulled back to behave. I can’t fault him for financial responsibility!

  12. Lola B says:

    Lol. I spent $585 on a tree for my garden yesterday and my husband laughed and said “another tree?”. I couldn’t live w/a tight wad. I’m sure she’s used to it if this is true though. I find him attractive. I like his movies too. They seem like a nice couple.

  13. lucy2 says:

    I don’t care much for him, I just saw an interview with him and he seems kind of full of himself. Who knows if this is true though.

  14. Jackson says:

    Ah, correction: it’s not HIS money. It’s THEIR money.

  15. Madpoe says:

    Hey Mark, “Say hi to ya mutha for me”

  16. Mitch Buchanan Rocks! says:

    Marks wife and Katie Holmes look to have the same figure – but Rhea’s kid is a better stylist.

  17. carrie says:

    i don’t believe this story because it’s probably how much he spend in cigars

  18. Carolyn says:

    Maybe she’s buying that cheapo fashion junk that is painful, can’t be cleaned and barely, safely worn once.. without it becoming destroyed

  19. JoeB says:

    Short guys, on average, are always on the cheap side.

  20. mewmow says:

    I kinda want to see his movie, Ted, but not sure how to see it without looking at him, hearing his voice or giving him a penny! Can’t stand him since his disgusting 911 comment. 🙁

  21. Boo says:

    I heard him on Howard Stern last week, I think. He goes to church every morning and seems extremely full of himself. Very cocky. Seemed a bit antagonistic toward Howard, too, though Howard worked it into a good interview nonetheless.

    I believe he is cheap simply because that seems like a facet of his overall controlling nature.

  22. Eve says:

    Somehow I’m not surprised by this (Wahlberg being cheap).

  23. jesstar says:

    This is really pinging my BS meter on so many levels. He doesnt like her buying big-ticket items (relative to his upbringing, not his current status), and in their many years together, she hasn’t either made her own money or figured out a way around that? Uh-huh.

    We get it STAR, Marky Mark grew up poor & urban.

  24. crazymary says:

    She is stunning. Wow.

  25. buckley says:

    Doesn’t this guy still wear high waisted Lee jeans with a cell phone holster?
    I believe it.

  26. jferber says:

    Yeah, it’s her money, too. I never liked him and I don’t think they have a rock-solid marriage, unless that means him cheating on her with other women, calling her “the wife” instead of her first name, and being ambivalent about her in print for years. It figures he’d be cheap, too. He said he never gave a thought about compensating the guy he blinded. He can still seek him out to give him restitution, but he DOESN’T. This speaks volumes to me. Short ass.

  27. Jade says:

    It would be alright if she spends her own money you know instead of just popping little kiddies left right & center then she can do whatever she wants with said cash.

    But $500 for a net worth of $150 million is just BS really…

  28. Kim says:

    NOTHING is worse than a cheap man.

  29. original lucy says:

    Saw the move Ted yesterday and it was pretty funny! However, in the movie Mila Kunis’s character states that MW’s character is the hottest guy in Boston…uh…as a Boston girl, let me say this…our Boston boys are so much hotter than this fugly dude! I mean, whateva, he is wicked dahgshit lookin!

  30. crtb says:

    I totally believe this story. He comes across as someone who would say “it’s my money”. He looks like he’s a control freak. I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t have to account for every dollar she spends.

  31. Ali says:

    I believe this story. There was a little gossip thing about them back in 2003, when Rhea and Mark were expecting their first child Ella. They were buying baby items at a store. Mark had Rhea pay for the items from her own wallet. So I could see this being true.
    I can see both sides. Mark and Rhea are building an incredibly expensive house, costing $35 million, or so I’ve read. They have two nannies, probably pays them $100,000 each a year, give or take. The kids are expensive. They live a very lavish lifestyle- do you see the vacations they go on? Wow. Talk about first class living. It all adds up. But Mark is doing very, very well so $500 isn’t worth getting into a fight over.

  32. tekla says:

    $500 is “nothing” to you guys? wow. I live in eastern europe, I work hard and earn about $300-400 a month.